


like early flower petals (you wake up my heart)

by unbalancedlove



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Humor, M/M, and markhyuck are stupid and in love, basically luwoo are sickeningly sweet, just like real life, mentioned chensung, mentioned norenmin, side markhyuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-28
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 23:25:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14779275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unbalancedlove/pseuds/unbalancedlove
Summary: three years into his relationship with jungwoo, yukhei has a revelation.





	like early flower petals (you wake up my heart)

**Author's Note:**

> i love luwoo but not nearly as much as luwoo love each other!!!!! they've been roommates since forever and their relationship just seems so easy and comfortable that i felt like i was going to die if i didn't write a whole fic about them being cute and domestic.
> 
> note: 99-line and 00-line are all the same age in this universe!
> 
> (title from wjsn's i wish)

“i’ve got everything, takeout chicken, our favorite blanket, a box of tissues-”

“why the tissues?” yukhei pouts. 

jungwoo presses a kiss on his cheek. “in case you cry again, babe.”

“i thought we were watching the boss baby?”

“yeah?”

yukhei hits play and rests his head on jungwoo’s lap, who threads his fingers through his hair. “i won’t cry this time,” he grumbles.

“i’m sure you won’t,” jungwoo says breezily. this was jungwoonese for ‘yeah right you fucking liar.’

  


yukhei wakes up to the sound of the morning news and the smell of fresh coffee brewing from the kitchen. he doesn’t really get jungwoo’s reasoning for why he turns on the news every morning, he never pays attention to any of it.  _ it’s nice, makes me feel like a functional adult. _ well, fine, that was fair, considering their favorite way to spend a weekend night is to watch movies that were made for eight-year-olds. 

“turn that shit down.” he sinks deep into the warmth of his pillow. he doesn’t remember falling asleep on the bed, but jungwoo always made sure he made it there.

“no, you’re going to be late to class.”

“it’s sunday afternoon.”

“it’s monday morning and your coffee is getting cold.” he can hear jungwoo unfold a newspaper and flip through it until he gets to the crossword puzzle.

yukhei rolls out and falls onto the floor with a loud thud. “shit shit shit, i’m going to be-”

“late to your quiz, yeah. you have five minutes to wash up, two to get dressed, three to eat breakfast, and ten seconds to kiss me good morning.”

yukhei makes a quick stop to the kitchen on his way to the bathroom to slap a sloppy kiss on an unsuspecting jungwoo. his boyfriend is so much cuter when he’s wide eyed and confused, and he loves catching him off guard. “i love you hyung.” he grins at him before running off. 

“i almost spilled my coffee xuxi! you just wasted your good morning kiss.”

“i’m getting another one before i leave!” he yells over the sound of the running water.

  


their second kiss lasts around one minute and thirty seconds, jungwoo pressed against the counter, his fingers digging into yukhei’s shoulder, who only breaks away because jungwoo pants the unsexiest words known to man:  _ your quiz. _

he’s completely breathless when he slams his laptop on the seat next to to half dead mark. “wow, someone’s looking fresh this morning.”

“mark please, i look amazing every single day of my life.” stupid mark, he sees yukhei every day but he still can’t get used to how handsome he is. he can’t say he really blames him though.

“no, ew,” mark flares his nostrils. “really. ew. i mean that you always look like you’ve had eight hours of sleep. that’s a privilege that most of us don’t have.” donghyuck is snoring behind him, and mark throws him a fond look. 

“stayed up all night with your boyfriend?” 

mark’s eyes widen in horror, and he rapidly mouths  _ shut the fuck up this is why i can’t trust you with anything ever you piece of shit. _

yukhei doesn’t know what mark expected when he admitted that he has a big ugly crush on his best friend. he has a big mouth and he’s not afraid to use it.

“i’d rather die than date this loser,” comes donghyuck’s muffled voice. his hair is a fluffy orange mess and there’s a silver of drool at the corner of his mouth. mark reaches over to wipe it with the tip of his hoodie’s sleeve. “the feeling is mutual, asshole.”

their relationship didn’t make sense at all. mark and donghyuck have been in love with each other since yukhei met them on the first day of college, but they’re quickly approaching the end of their first year, and no progress has been made, despite yukhei’s constant attempts to push them forward. it was a miracle he even got mark to admit his feelings.

he especially can’t relate because he and jungwoo were making out in empty classrooms a few months after they first met. donghyuck met mark when they were six.

“we were up late studying for this stupid quiz. who the fuck gives a quiz on three chapters?” donghyuck whines. “one weekend isn’t enough to cover all the material.”

the hardest part about being an international studies major is the ridiculous amount of assigned readings that yukhei had to plow through each week. the second hardest part is being classmates with lee donghyuck.

yukhei is confused. “but you two went out with me on saturday….”

“yeah, what’s your point?”

professor kim announces his arrival by tripping over the a cord and spilling the exam papers all over the floor. donghyuck stretches his arms over his head as an overeager boy in the first row runs out to help him.

“i wish i had someone to baby me all the time like you, yukhei.”

yukhei starts to ask what the fuck he’s talking about but gets interrupted by the professor loudly reminding everyone to turn off their cellphones. 

donghyuck is the first person to turn in his paper, but that’s only because he uses the extra ten minutes to go back to his nap, which stretches through the entire lecture. mark doesn’t wake him up, and yukhei knows that he’s the only person who’s allowed to interact with him while he’s asleep, so he spends the next hour at the edge of his seat, thinking about what donghyuck said.

“you guys wanna grab some coffee?” yukhei offers as they step out into the sunlight later. today’s a particularly hot day. “wait, where’s donghyuck?”

mark gasps. “oh fuck, i forgot to wake him up.” he starts jogging back into the building and waves. “i’ll catch up with you later, yeah?”

yukhei smiles and waves back as he internally curses donghyuck for his equally stupid big mouth.

   


\--

   


the first time jungwoo and yukhei meet, he’s sixteen and had just arrived in seoul. everything was new: the language, the food, the school.

the new feelings that conjured up inside of him the first time he saw jungwoo.

“having a crush on kim jungwoo is the most stereotypical thing you could do,” chenle shakes his head. “you’re such a basic bitch, xuxi.”

yukhei sighs. “he said good morning to me today. he called me lucas.”

“who the fuck is lucas?”

“i don’t know but that’s what you’re all going to call me starting today.”

“i’m gonna pass on that,” renjun says.

“i thought you said your new friend was cool,” jisung whispers to chenle.

just as he is about to teach chenle’s smartass boyfriend a lesson, jungwoo steps into the cafeteria. now yukhei can’t exactly tell you if it’s just because he has his gay goggles on too tight, but he swears that every time jungwoo walked into a room he could see sparkles floating around him, an aura of light, these flower textures that appear in the background of shoujo mangas. yukhei’s eyes follow him as he surveys the meal options for the day and pouts while trying to decide on what he wants to get. he has never wanted to kiss someone so much. 

“jungwoo hyung! over here,” chenle suddenly yells, startling everyone at the table.

“what are you doing?” yukhei asks. he’s not ready to talk to jungwoo again today. if he tries he might completely melt and turn into a puddle. or a lake. he’s too big to be a puddle. lake lucas.

“getting you a boyfriend, obviously.” chenle grabs renjun and jisung and whisks them away just as jungwoo sets his tray across from yukhei’s.

“hey lucas,” jungwoo smiles, and god,  _ his voice _ . it’s like angels singing. no, actually, more like god speaking to him directly. even yukhei doesn’t remember his own name. “your friends are pretty funny.”

“i’m the funniest out of all of them,” luca-uh, yukhei blurts out. “and the handsomest, actually.” he’s so good at this flirting thing, he can’t believe chenle was offering to give him lessons last week. maybe whatever his tactics were worked on that annoying little asshole, but yukhei’s going after the most popular guy in school.

jungwoo tucks his chin in his hand and hums. “you really are.”

“in the whole school?”

“let’s not push it, luke.” he’s sure jungwoo is sassing him but he still sounds like what a soft warm blanket would sound like if blankets had mouths. and  _ luke _ ? “are you free this sunday?”

  


the library is an odd place for a first date, yukhei has to admit to himself, but he still spent an hour styling his hair in front of the mirror this morning. when jungwoo arrives, squints at him, and then starts taking out his stationary and chemistry textbook, yukhei’s confusion only grows.

“we’re going to study?” he says while trying his best to maintain a smile.

“i sure hope so.” jungwoo is still digging into his backpack. his expression brightens when he scoops out a pen from the very bottom. “chenle begged me to help you, even offered to pay for it. you must be failing really badly.”

so this was chenle’s plan. yukhei doesn’t know whether he wants to thank that bastard for giving them some alone time together or kill him for not informing him that, hey by the way, you didn’t score a date with jungwoo, he just thinks you’re an idiot who doesn’t understand basic chemistry.

jungwoo must have noticed his face fall, because he smiles softly and places a hand on yukhei’s shoulder. “i told him that he didn’t have to pay me to spend time with you.”

thank him. definitely thank chenle.

chemistry sundays with jungwoo become the highlight of yukhei’s weekends, and by the third week they move their study sessions from their school library (he convinces jungwoo that he thinks it’s haunted) to his bedroom floor. honestly, yukhei’s not failing any subject, but purposely messing up his chemistry exam is worth it just because jungwoo’s worried expression is the cutest thing he’s ever seen, because he can’t bear for this to end. it’s fine, he can tell him the truth ten years from now when they’re married with three children and a dog (all of which he already named).

he promises himself to ask him out at the end of every session, but in the end he chickens out and ends up giving the movie tickets he had bought earlier to chenle and jisung.

“ninety seven percent? woah, if i didn’t know you any better i’d think that you were playing dumb this entire term,” jungwoo jokes as he admires yukhei’s graded final exam. the proud look in his eyes is way way better than his disappointed one, yukhei should have come clean earlier.

well, no time like the present.

“i was.”

“you were what?” 

“i wasn’t really failing chemistry. my best friend is a filthy liar and this is entirely his fault i swear i didn’t set him up for thi-”

“wait, wait, hold up,” jungwoo cuts him off sharply, or as sharp as he could with his buttery soft voice. “you pretended to suck at this chemistry for months? why on earth would you do that?”

“you’re like, you’re really fucking cute,” yukhei states the obvious, gesturing at jungwoo’s face, which was turning a very pleasant shade of pink. 

jungwoo buries his face in his hands. “i’ve literally been flirting with you since the very first time i laid my eyes on you, and you waited this long to tell me you like me.”

it’s yukhei’s turn to blush. “f-flirt?”

“last week i nearly climbed into your lap while trying to explain nuclear fusion.”

“ah.” he remembers that. he had just accepted a while ago that jungwoo did not understand the meaning of personal space and didn’t think much of it.

“yeah,” jungwoo lets out a drawn out sigh, like he had finally arrived at finish the line of the world’s longest marathon.

they sit in awkward silence for a few minutes.

“so, now what?” yukhei finally says. he has two tickets to see inside out stashed in the drawer of his bedside table.

“now you kiss me, you dumbass.”

yukhei has moved around all his life, and by the time he lands in korea he doesn’t know what it means to have a home, a place where he belongs. but it was in that moment, during that first kiss, that he knows that it’s right here.

it takes three months for yukhei to muster the courage to tell him his actual name, but once jungwoo learns it he never stops saying it.  _ yukhei stop crying _ ,  _ yukhei i love you _ ,  _ yukhei stay _ .

_ yukhei you should move in with me. _

   


\--

   


it’s a cute story that he loves to tell everyone, but the first time he told it to his new friends in college donghyuck snorted and said that nothing is worth studying chemistry every sunday for an entire term. not bringing up the fact that donghyuck woke up at seven in the morning so he could get the same psychology 101 section as mark is the hardest thing that yukhei has ever had to do.

“donghyuck is so fucking annoying,” yukhei proclaims over the loud sound coming from the blow dryer. he’s sitting cross legged on the toilet seat while jungwoo works his hair.

“what happened baby, did he call you bigfoot again?” jungwoo says as he threads his fingers through yukhei’s wet blonde strands. he doesn’t know how it started, but he’s one hundred percent sure that his boyfriend’s hands have magical powers that make his hair softer and fluffier. jungwoo only agrees that he’s an expert at pulling yukhei’s hair.

he’s too embarrassed to repeat the words that came out of donghyuck’s evil mouth, so he just pouts. “he and mark stayed up all night together, and then completely ignored the jokes i made about it. what do i have to do hyung? bring a neon sign to class that says PLEASE KISS ALREADY?”

“you are weirdly invested in that relationship, xuxi,” jungwoo laughs. 

he thinks back to chenle’s high school antics. “maybe that’s what happens when you have an invasive best friend who doesn’t know how to mind his own business.”

“one day with chenle and they’ll be declaring their love for each other,” jungwoo agrees, and yukhei laughs. jungwoo responds by patting his head, and his heart skips a beat. it’s so stupid, they’ve been together for three years now, but it’s tiny gestures like this that still make yukhei’s heart burst with affection. it feels like he’s still a dumb lovestruck sixteen year old. 

“all done,” jungwoo says softly, and yukhei tilts his head up and puckers his lips. he smiles and holds his face in both of his hands and presses a soft kiss on his forehead. “i’m not going to kiss you on the toilet seat. again.”

“booooo!”

  


the next time yukhei sees donghyuck is on friday at their favorite pizza place.

“jungwoo hyung does not baby me,” yukhei slides into the already crammed booth, pushing a disgruntled jaemin to the wall. “we’re two adults in a loving relationship.”

“donghyuck, what did you say to him this time?” renjun asks.

“jungwoo hyung is an adult, sure,” donghyuck replies calmly, not at all interested in this conversation. he’s showing mark a cat video on his phone. “you on the other hand? ehhhh.”

“oooh, what are we fighting about today?” jaemin pipes in. his only function in their group is to either start shit or egg people on while they argue. yukhei wonders how out of the twenty thousand students at his university, he ended up befriending these assholes.

“donghyuck said that my boyfriend babies me all the time.”

jaemin hums and nods. “your hair looks great today, xuxi, did you do it yourself?” 

“actually jungw- hey! fuck you!” he yells when he realizes that jaemin had been setting him up. jaemin and donghyuck just cackle at him like the demons they are. 

“time out! time out!” jeno stands up and screams over everyone. “if you continue to fight i’m going to call over doyoung hyung and he will put a stop to this, i can promise you that.” doyoung, jeno’s cousin who works at the restaurant, had kicked them out of the establishment before and he explicitly told them that he was ready to do it again.

“fine, but only for you babe.” jaemin blows a kiss towards jeno, who pretends to catch it. renjun looks the other way and pretends that he can’t see his boyfriends embarrass him in public.

“i won’t stop, since i’m not scared of doyoung hyung and i don’t live up jeno’s ass,” donghyuck declares. yukhei had his full attention now. he takes a long sip from his coke and maintains eye contact with him the whole time. it’s actually pretty terrifying, but he stands his ground.

“he’s not going to let this go, yukhei, especially now that he knows it’s pushing your buttons,” mark warns. yukhei ignores his input. yeah, mark has known him since they were in diapers or whatever, but that means nothing. he’s a strong and capable and doesn’t get babied by his boyfriend or lose arguments with his demonic friend.

“i’m going to prove you wrong, you little shithead,” yukhei growls, and mark buries his face in his hands. jeno, jaemin, and renjun are doing that weird thing where they communicate solely with their eyes, probably planning their exit from this mess. 

“don’t say i didn’t warn you bro.” mark pats his back.

“oh no, did i hurt little xuxi’s feelings? are you going to cry now?” donghyuck says, his voice somehow turning even more high pitched than it normally is. further proof that he’s satan’s child.

“only donghyuck would pick a fight with a guy the size of a phone pole,” renjun mutters to himself.

“but does it really count when it’s just xuxi?” jaemin answers thoughtfully. yukhei retaliates by pinching his neck, and donghyuck reaches over from across the table and tries to get in on the action.

“doyoung hyung!” jeno shrieks, and his cousin immediately drops whatever he was doing and rushes to their table.

and that’s the story of wong yukhei and his gang got kicked out johnny’s pizza parlour for the second time in one semester.

  


if yukhei was being totally honest with himself, he would admit that this is less about hurt pride and more about feeling consumed with guilt because he might be a burden on jungwoo. the dynamics of their relationship barely shifted since it purely revolved around chemical reactions. somewhere along the way, jungwoo taking care of him became a natural part of his life, even when they couldn’t see each other every day during his last year of high school.

so he feels a little withdrawn by the time the night was winding, and he sits quietly as jungwoo drives him, mark, and donghyuck home.

“i think doyoung hyung is going to get a heart attack and die because of you guys one day,” he shakes his head, and when no one answers (all feeling too embarrassed to say anything), he turns up the music.

**[11:02] MARK: are you okay?**

yukhei looks up and their eyes meet in the rearview mirror. mark is peaking his head from behind jungwoo’s seat. next to him donghyuck is leaning on the window and napping.

**[11:03] YUWUKHEI: just a little tired.**

“....yukhei? yukhei are you alright?” jungwoo’s voice startles him.

yukhei blinks at him. was he being that obvious while moping? “why wouldn’t i be?”

“i played your favorite bts song and you’re not dancing in your seat.” mark snorts from the backseat but jungwoo sounds legitimately concerned. this is the exact type of thing that made yukhei upset to begin with. he clenches his fists.

he lets out a long frustrated noise. “i’m just so tired from classes! professor kim has been kicking our asses lately with all these assignments lately, hasn’t he mark?”

“uh….sure i guess.” yukhei has never complained about school before.

jungwoo nods. “isn’t he the worst? i barely passed his class last year. you should have taken it with someone else like i told you.”

“all the other sections were closed!”

“because you overslept during registration! i did everything to try and wake you up!” yukhei turns red, he feels thankful that donghyuck is not conscious during this exchange. he can see mark’s obnoxious smile with the corner of his eye, and he starts calculating how much he needs to pay him off to stay quiet. 

“i could have woken up on my own,” he mumbles, crossing his arms. 

jungwoo only looks more confused. “you’re really being weird today.”

“he’s had a long day, hyung,” mark says, trying not to snicker.

“you all look like zombies today,” jungwoo agrees. “i have an idea! you two should come over to our place this weekend. we’ll do something fun, try to get your mind off school for a little bit.” he turns to yukhei and winks, who shakes his head and mouths a  _ what? _

now he’s trying to baby his friends too. he wants to unlock the door of the moving car and fling himself into the traffic. “aren’t you busy with midterms too?”

“huh? no, i don’t have one for the next couple of weeks. come on, it’ll be fun,” he persists, and yukhei finds it impossible to say no to his cute whining. “isn’t that right donghyuck?”

donghyuck is startled awake. “what? i wasn’t sleeping!” mark whispers something in his ear, and his eyes turn into a pair of tennis balls. “oh my god, yes! i’d love to!”

“this friday then?” so yukhei only has one more week to live, then.

“it’s a date,” donghyuck answers ominously. 

  


“you’ve never invited mark and donghyuck over before,” yukhei says, suspicious, when they get home.

“are you kidding? i just invited them on a double date, i’m doing you a favor.” jungwoo places a hand on yukhei’s forehead to check for a fever. “are you really my xuxi? have you been kidnapped and replaced by an android? i wouldn’t say no to android sex bu-”

“no! and that’s a really great idea, god, i can’t believe i haven’t thought of that myself.”

“the android sex?” jungwoo says, smiling when he sees yukhei finally perk up a little bit.

yukhei rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling too. 

but the same thoughts plague him for the next few days. he sets an alarm for the first time since he moved in jungwoo, suddenly worrying about him waking up way earlier than he needs to just so yukhei wouldn’t miss his classes. which is why he’s scared shitless when jungwoo wakes him up thirty minutes before the alarm goes off. 

“h-h-hyung, why are you up?” he only has one afternoon class today, but here he is, wide awake and more ready than yukhei is.

“what? i offered to take the morning shift at work today, jinsol is out sick.” he squints at his phone. “i’m a little late, actually.”

“oh, right, i’m just gonna,” he trails off as he slowly shuffles to the bathroom.

he doesn’t stop by the student affairs office where jungwoo works and stick around and bother him and his co-workers until haseul gently tells him to get the fuck out, and when jungwoo gets home he finds a note from yukhei telling him that he’s going to be studying late at the library and that he doesn’t need to worry about whether or not he’s eaten today. he even buys all the groceries to prepare for their dinner with mark and donghyuck on his own despite the fact that they always go together.

if jungwoo noticed any of his efforts, he doesn’t say anything.

  


“i thought you said we were going to do something fun,” donghyuck complains. 

mark smacks the back of his head. “don’t be fucking rude.”

“i really don’t understand what you don’t like about a toy story marathon,” jungwoo says, genuinely dumbfounded.

after eating the yukhei prepared dinner (xuxi’s mystery pot), the four of them huddle around in the tiny living room, and jungwoo makes sure that mark and donghyuck are squished next to each other on one side of the couch while he sat on the edge, half of his body weight on yukhei’s left thigh. their two guests don’t really suspect anything, and donghyuck even takes mark’s hand and starts poking at it distractingly. 

“don’t you have something that’s like, not meant for toddlers?” he switches to kneading his thumbs onto mark’s palm, and mark’s lack of reaction indicates that this is a regular occurance. 

“it’s nonstop family fun, and yukhei’s my family.” he nuzzles his face in the crook of yukhei’s neck, and yukhei wraps his arms around his shoulders and pulls him closer. mark and donghyuck look like they’re on the verge of throwing up.

yukhei and jungwoo’s grand plan is going smoothly (they even anticipated donghyuck’s asshole remarks), and the next part is their rehearsed lines.

“plus, we’ve never really done double dates before,” jungwoo adds innocently, and yukhei feels a sense of deep satisfaction as he watches donghyuck’s face fall. he whispers something in mark’s ear, who looks equally shaken.

“jungwoo hyung?” mark asks slowly. “what do you think we are?”

“yukhei’s friends?” jungwoo answers in the same tone. he wants to draw this out as much as he can.

“no, the, uh, me and donghyuck?”

“what about you two?”

donghyuck, predictably, snaps first. “stop fucking with us hyung, you really thought mark and i were dating?”

this is dumbest plan that yukhei has ever been dragged to, but he has to give credit to jungwoo for not faltering once. he fakes a loud gasp. “you’re not? but you’re so cute together, i would never have guessed!” he ribs yukhei playfully. “i can’t believe you never corrected me, i’m so embarrassed oh my god.” yukhei responds with a light shrug.

mark blinks at everyone in the room in confusion. “should we just leave then? we can leav-”

“no fucking way,” lucas says, sitting up and accidentally shoving jungwoo off of him in the process. he quickly collects himself when everyone looks startled. “i mean, jungwoo hyung was really excited about tonight and if you guys leave it’d really hurt his feelings.”

“he’s right, i’m a fragile mess of emotions. i’ll literally start crying if you walk out that door,“ jungwoo says in a low voice, sounding more threatening than pleading.

“it’s not like we have anything better to do, i guess,” donghyuck settles back into his spot on the couch, although he purposely tries to keep a visible distance between him and mark. “just play your stupid movie already.”

yukhei looks over at mark, looking for any additional protests, but he stays silent with nothing but pure unfiltered rage in his eyes. it’s fine, yukhei reasons, he’ll be on his knees thanking him for this later.

the tension between the two of them quickly evaporates, because donghyuck is a human glue stick and is physically incapable of being around mark without attaching himself to him somehow. it’s possibly his only endearing quality. so by the time the credits of the first movie start rolling, mark and donghyuck morphed into a comfortable position where they’re leaning into each other with their arms linked.

yukhei notices the way mark muffles his laughter into donghyuck’s shirt, and how donghyuck grips mark’s hand tighter during particularly tense scenes. he’s amazed by how they managed to carve their own little private space in his apartment. 

he argued about jungwoo before about what they should do, and his boyfriend was adamant that pixar movies were the perfect way to help facilitate emotions.  _ most movies touch you here _ , he always says, gesturing to his head,  _ but how many touch you here? _ he continues and points at his heart.

the best part about all this is that donghyuck seems to have completely forgotten about why he agreed to come in the first place. mark has one hundred and twenty percent of his attention.

and just as it crosses his mind again, jungwoo reacts like a mind reader. “can you come with me for a second?” he whispers into his ear as mark teases donghyuck for crying during the montage about jessie’s owner.

_ so he did notice _ , yukhei thinks, his heart sinking. jungwoo drags him off by the hand to their bedroom before he could make any objections. he closes the door and pushes his weight against it, forming a scary barrier. yukhei is concerned both because he knows he’s about to get chewed out for his recent assholish behavior and because he can hear  _ both _ of his friends crying outside now.

“i’m so sorry for being all weird you’re probably thinking i’m secretly seeing someone else or something like that now, god, i really didn’t think this through.” he collapses onto the bed.

“ah-hah! so you were hiding something from me,” jungwoo clasps his hands together like he just solved a great mystery. “and yukhei, let’s face it, you can’t do any better than this.” he was right.

“wait, is that not why you called me here?”

“no, it’s part of the plan,” he explains impatiently. “we’ve planted the seed, stirred the pot a little bit, now we give them some time alone to figure their shit out.”

the crying outside stops, and is replaced by the sound of mark and donghyuck having a screaming match instead. yukhei stands up “maybe i should chec-”

jungwoo shakes his head. “you’re not going anywhere until you explain what the hell’s been going on with you for the past week.” he sounds genuinely hurt. they’ve never kept secrets from each other, and yukhei shouldn’t start now over something so trivial.

“donghyuck-” jungwoo mouths an  _ oh my god _ and rolls his eyes. “wait! let me finish! donghyuck pointed out that you baby me too much.” it sounds even dumber than it did a week ago.

jungwoo waits for him to continue. “and?”

“and? and i felt like i was being a burden on you, like i was relying on you too much,” he whispers, embarrassed. “and it’s been like this since the beginning, you know? you barely knew me but you tutored me for free for  _ months _ .”

“i did that because i had a crush on you, xuxi,” jungwoo sighs. he looks upset. maybe now that yukhei told him he realizes what a nuisance he’s been all this time and leave. “you already knew that.”

“bu-”

“and really? you really think i’m the one carrying all the weight here?” his voice dips into a more gentle, softer tone. not really scolding like yukhei had anticipated.

“you wake me up every morning, you prepare breakfast if i sleep in, you sometimes do my hair, you call in sick and skip your classes if i get a simple cold, you set up a schedule so i never fall behind on classes,” yukhei lists off the top of his head. he could go on for hours. frankly, he doesn’t know how he functioned before he moved in with jungwoo.

jungwoo steps closer and holds both of his hands. “do you understand how hard it was for me to live here alone last year? it was unbearable, i couldn’t make any new friends and i hated everything about my major. having you around there for me, knowing that every single day was one step closer to finally living with you.”

the noise outside stopped, and the sudden quietness invites a sense of peace into yukhei’s heart. jungwoo takes his hands and kisses them, sending a shiver down his spine.

“i do all these things because i love you yukhei, because i wake up every morning to your pretty sleeping face and remember that you’re the best part of my life.”

yukhei bites on his bottom lip and tries his hardest not to sniff. “oh god, xuxi are you crying?”

“n-no,” a hiccup interrupts him as he tries to lie, the number one telltale sign that he’s crying. “i really love you, jungwoo hyung.”

jungwoo kisses his tears away, which only makes him cry harder. “i love you too, baby. i swear i’m going to kill donghyuck.”

“speaking of which, don’t you think they’ve gone a little too quiet?” yukhei asks as jungwoo moves down to spread butterfly kisses all over his neck. 

“who cares,” jungwoo pushes him against the wall. “they’re probably just making out or something.”

“what? not in our home they’re not.” yukhei gently pushes him away, his hiccups now gone.

jungwoo raises an eyebrow. “do you not remember what we were doing on that exact couch the other da-”

“that is exactly why!” he bursts into the living room, ready to tell donghyuck to get his demonic presence away from mark but is greeted with the two of them in their coats, flush faced and holding hands.

“oh, we thought you guys went to sleep or something, we were just about to leave.” mark can barely form coherent words, mostly because he’s smiling too hard.

“i figure you guys had a nice little chat?” jungwoo says, trying to hide the smugness from his face.

donghyuck nods. “we have a lot to talk about.”

“good, because i was about to kick you guys out anyway.” he looks at yukhei like he’s a five course meal.

and yukhei feels like the luckiest guy alive.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading ♡♡♡
> 
> come talk to me about luwoo and markhyuck on [cc](https://curiouscat.me/puppylove) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/demonyukhei).


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